grendal

FYI, you can't put 11" wide wheels on a convertible.

-Michael

Injuneer

Oooopppsss... you better tell George Baxter. He had factory Grand Sport 17x11's with 315/35-17 DR's on his 97 SS Convert. I know that he had less interference problems on his car than I had with the same setup on my coupe. I really couldn't see any physical difference between the inner fender liners on the coupe and the convertible, until we started hammering on them to fit even wider 15W slicks on the convert.... then we found several areas where there was additional reinforcement behind the fender wells in the convert. But the 17x11's fit like they were made for the car.

Brent94Z

Hey Fred, maybe somebody can confirm this but I had heard a long time ago that the reason why convertibles didn't get 17" wheels was because with the extra reinforcement done on the frame, the 17" wheels (with less sidewall) gave to harsh a ride for GM so they didn't make the 17" wheels an option (at least in some cases, right?). I think this was also true with some of the 3rd gens... you could get 16" wheels on the coupes but only 15" wheels on the converts. Can anybody confirm this to be the reason why converts didn't come with larger diameter wheels from the factory and that it has nothing to do with a fit issue in the fenderwells?

Dmx4ever3

so r u saying don't go 17 stay 16 cause i have a convert.?

rob97ss

this is an quote right from the slp owners manual supplement it is the position of slp that the ride quality of the convert would suffer from 17 in wheel and tire combo.We chose to use the 16 in wheel and tire combo to ensure long lasting comfort and ride quality

Injuneer

Isn't Camarocasanova running 20" wheels on his 94 Z28 Convert?

George never complained about the deterioration of the ride qualtiy on his 30th SS Convert, but then when your putting down 900+rwHP, ride quality is secondary .

Lost

What they're saying is the ride quality will suffer (among other things). More rim = less rubber so you'll have worse traction and less padding with 18 inch rims to put it simply.

HTH

Dmx4ever3

so if i sell my stock rims(16)245) to get like z06 chrome tire rim package with 17 rims and 275 tire will my car ride suffer or get better ??? or should i get a bigger tire to fill in the wheel well

Lost

Yes.. your ride will stiffen up.. I can't say it any clearer. Rubber is padding.. if you have less of it then the ride will be harsher.

No, you cannot just get bigger tires. The tire sizes available reflect common overall oem wheel sizes. The camaro wheel size is something like 25 inches.. if you increase the size of the rim to 17 or 18 inch then the only tires available are going to be smaller than the stock tire size, thus the overall wheel size stays roughly the same.. You can't just buy a bigger tire. Believe me, I researched this extensively because I wanted to fill in the fender gap without lowering the car because I have some clearance problems. Go read my first post in this thread again.


here is a tire size calculator for the miata but it works with any car. You can see how much rubber you'll have with a certain tire/rim combo and you can see how much bigger or smaller that combo is compared to the stock diameter.. there's some other interesting stuff you can see too. Oh, the stock setup on a camaro is 245/50/16 - you enter that into the first box and then enter another tire size into the other box - for example: 275/40/17 and you can compare the two. If you don't understand how the numbers work then say so.. but I'm not going to explain it now b/c that's a lengthy explanation and this post is already too long.

You can then go to www.tirerack.com and compare prices for the tires and see exactly what size tires do exist. For example, the miata tire calculator lets you choose any size but not all of them are manufactured - for example 295/50/17 does not exist even though you can select that size on the miata page. Tirerack also lists what width tires will fit on what width rim - remember it's not always best to cram the widest tire possible on a rim - you'll end up actually LOSING traction.

Food for thought.

Brent94Z

DMX, please shorten your sig as asked. Thanks!

stevil

You can if you can program your PCM.

DMXdude has HPP3. I don't know the limitations of that, never used it, but maybe that can edit tire size? I have TunerCat, so getting bigger or smaller diameter tires is no big deal for me.

Dmx4ever3

yeah i have the hpp3 so i can ajust size to make it bigger

grendal

Let me put it another way.... Having a tire with bigger than stock overall diameter (~25 inches, I think it's 25.66) looks gay. You'll look like one of the retard bling-bling rappers who think that bigger is better. It's not. It looks dumb.

The theory is called "Plus Sizing"... which means you go with a larger rim size (i.e. go from a 16" to a 17") and then go with an appropriately lower profile tire (50 series to a 40 series) in order to keep the overall diameter the same.

The entire POINT of going with larger wheels (17 vs 16) is to get the lower profile tires for the benefits of it being "stiffer" to handling.

If drag racing traction is your goal, get 15's. If having a nice balance of handling/traction is your goal, stay with 16's. If cornering is more your thing, go with 17's. If you're really obsessed with looks and "size" of wheels, go with 18's, but be warned they are usually heavier, make your car slower, and ride very harshly. If you want to be a "bling bling" rapper, get 19's with rubber-band tires and impress all your shallow friends who think that 35lb chromed 20's are da shyznit.

Good luck,

-Michael

Lost

Yes, he can edit his speedo.. I understand that, I'm not saying that's the problem.

What I'm saying is that there aren't any tires that I can think of that would fit well on a 17X9.5 rim that would allow you to "plus size". Sure you may be able to get .4 inches more diameter with something like a 285/40/17 but I wouldn't call that plus sizing.. do you really think that .4 inches overall diameter is something you'd even be able to notice? Your speedo would be off less than 1 mph at 60.. C'mon, that's not plus sizing

Is there something I'm missing here? Is there some tire that would fit on a 17" rim and allow you to gain an inch or more overall diameter over stock diameter? I sure haven't seen one.

Regardless of all this, I still say some nice 16 inch salad shooters are the way to go - good balance between street and strip and they're free

edit: Yes you can buy bigger rims like 19 inchers and put some rubber band tires on them and end up with a larger overall wheel diameter but that's not what he wants to do... he wants to plus size via some taller tires.. and I'm saying that's not possible.

Hope this clarifies,

Camaro90RS

From my pesonal experience with 18's, I would most definetly get them again. The ride isnt anywhere near as harsh as the others have stated before. I went from stock 16's with Bridgestones to 18x9.5 all around with 275/35ZR18 Kuhmo Ecsta Supras. For a while, I couldnt even tell one bit that they were "supposed" to be a rougher ride. IMO, I thought the 18's drove smoother and better than the 16's. IF you get on a really rough road, you will notice that the 18's are little bit stiffer than stock. Even my passengers in the car that told me that 18's would ride rougher were surprised. Dont always believe what everyone tells you on here, as some of it is heresay from someone else's friend of a friend. I got my 18" ZO6 wheels for the street, and to have some wheels that no one else has. For the strip, I use the sotck 16's for now with 26x11.5 ET streets.

My choice is for you to get the 18's, but if you cant afford it, then go with the 17's at each corner.

Brian